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Year 11
AQA

Coastal fieldwork

I can collect primary and secondary data at the coast to help me answer a geographical enquiry question.

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New
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Year 11
AQA

Coastal fieldwork

I can collect primary and secondary data at the coast to help me answer a geographical enquiry question.

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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There are many geographical enquiry questions that you can investigate at the coast.
  2. Data collection techniques at the coast look at beach and wave morphology and coastal management.
  3. Secondary data can provide contextual information about particular coastlines and comparable data.

Keywords

  • Coastal morphology - the physical shape and size of a beach, a cliff, waves and beach sediment

  • Transect - an imaginary line along which samples of data are collected

  • Ranging pole - a metal pole (traditionally red and white striped) that is used to mark a point in a survey

  • Clinometer - a hand-held device used to measure the gradient of a slope

  • Quadrat - a square frame used at ground level to show the limits of a sample area

Common misconception

Enquiries that focus on coastal management have to discuss effectiveness.

While many coastal enquiries focus on how effective management strategies are, the concept of effectiveness is far broader. Enquiries could study how coastal defences look, if they prevent access to the beach, or how sustainable it is to build them.


To help you plan your year 11 geography lesson on: Coastal fieldwork, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

It is important to remind students that beaches and waves change their size and shape constantly. This means that any data collected is a representation of these features at that particular time rather than how they appear every day.
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Teacher tip
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Equipment

Clinometer, ranging poles.

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Content guidance

  • Risk assessment required - outdoor learning
supervision-level

Supervision

Adult supervision required

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is reliable data?
data which can be sorted into exclusive categories
data which has the potential to answer the enquiry question
Correct answer: data which would be the same were the data collection method to be repeated
data which does not follow the general pattern or trend
Q2.
Geographers should always look at the and moral impacts of their enquiry.
Correct Answer: Ethical, ethics
Q3.
Which of the following should not be mentioned in an evaluation?
whether the enquiry question is suitable for the location
elements of the data collection that could be improved
Correct answer: how attractive the data presentation is
how the choice of analysis technique impacted the final conclusion
Q4.
A field sketch is a good way of recording and presenting __________ data.
stakeholder
Correct answer: observer
discrete
continuous
Q5.
Which of these is not an example of secondary data?
Correct answer: responses to your online questionnaire
data in a weather report from last week
an old photograph of your field site
data collected by another student last year
Q6.
Which dimension that is measured in physical geography enquiries, is missing from the following list? Depth, length, width, height and .
Correct Answer: gradient, angle, gradients, angles

Exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
What is a clinometer?
a square device that is placed on the ground to sample sediment
a red and white pole used to mark out sections of a transect
Correct answer: a device that shows the angle of a slope
a special tape measure for measuring the height of a cliff
Q2.
'How has the new sea wall affected how people use the beach?' This is an enquiry question focusing on coastal .
Correct Answer: management, defences, management schemes, defence schemes
Q3.
Sort these stages of measuring the angle of a beach into the correct order.
1 - Select a transect across the width of the beach.
2 - Place two ranging poles at a set distance apart.
3 - Position the clinometer alongside one ranging pole.
4 - Angle the clinometer to point at the same point on the opposite ranging pole.
5 - Read the gradient from the dial on the clinometer.
Q4.
If a geographer wants to study the effectiveness of a groyne, they can measure from the of the groyne to the top of the beach sediment on either side of the groyne.
Correct Answer: Top

Additional material

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